Chapter 11 - the sample Peter never authorized
Julia could barely look at the laboratory report.
Peter had been dead for six years when embryo M-04 was created.
Yet the genetic material used to make it was unquestionably his.
Detective Brooks traced the source.
During Peter and Julia’s original fertility treatment, Voss Reproductive Institute had retained reproductive samples beyond the period authorized by the couple.
Those samples should have been destroyed.
They were not.
Lydia had used them years later.
Julia felt violated in a way she could hardly describe.
“She kept pieces of us.”
Dr. Hale nodded.
“Without lawful consent.”
“To manufacture children.”
“To create embryos.”
“And then put them into girls.”
Dr. Hale did not soften the truth.
“Yes.”
Megan was transferred under police protection to another hospital.
Her foster records revealed why she had been vulnerable.
Her mother had died.
Her father was incarcerated.
Lydia obtained temporary medical guardianship through a Riverton-affiliated program.
She controlled nearly every decision.
Megan awakened terrified.
Detective Brooks promised she would not be questioned until she was medically stable.
Benjamin remained inside the underground clinic.
His condition was real.
He suffered from a severe immune disorder that had worsened over years of experimental treatment.
But investigators found something unexpected.
His current therapy did not depend on pregnancy.
The original justification for Kinship had ended years earlier.
Modern treatment was keeping him stable.
“So why continue?” Julia asked.
Brooks placed photographs across the table.
Investors.
Patents.
Corporate agreements.
Lydia had transformed a desperate attempt to save Benjamin into a profitable research empire.
Project Kinship now generated proprietary data on implantation, immune compatibility, and reproductive endocrinology.
“Benjamin became the excuse,” Brooks said.
Julia looked toward Lucy’s room down the hallway.
“And Lucy?”
“Part of the program.”
“Did Lydia love her?”
Brooks considered the question.
“Lucy believes she did.”
That mattered.
It did not erase what Lydia had done.
But it would matter to Lucy.
Police finally found Raymond Voss in a motel outside Washington, D.C.
He surrendered without resistance.
During questioning, he admitted performing Clara’s unauthorized procedure.
Julia requested permission to watch from behind the glass.
Raymond looked exhausted.
“Lydia said Clara’s mother had agreed.”
Brooks placed the forged consent before him.
“You knew this email account was inactive.”
“I didn’t check.”
“You performed embryo transfer on a thirteen-year-old.”
Raymond looked away.
“She was medically mature enough.”
Brooks’s voice hardened.
“She was a child.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
Silence.
“Why M-02?”
“Compatibility.”
“Why Clara?”
“She was the genetic sibling.”
“Who selected her?”
“Lydia.”
“Why now?”
Raymond swallowed.
“Because M-02 was degrading.”
Brooks frowned.
“After fourteen years?”
“There had been storage damage.”
“So Lydia decided to use it.”
“Yes.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because no ethics board would approve it.”
“Exactly.”
Brooks leaned closer.
“Where is Lydia?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did she take Megan?”
“I didn’t know she had.”
“Why create M-04?”
Raymond hesitated.
“That wasn’t Lydia.”
Julia leaned toward the glass.
Brooks stopped writing.
“Who created it?”
“Malcolm.”
“Malcolm died three years ago.”
“M-04 was created before his death.”
The official record had been falsified.
“What was it intended for?”
Raymond’s eyes shifted toward the observation glass.
He could not see Julia.
But she felt as though he was looking directly at her.
“Not Benjamin.”
“Then who?”
“Lucy.”
Julia froze.
Lucy had been healthy.
Why would Lydia need a genetically related embryo for her?
Brooks pressed him.
“What was wrong with Lucy?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why M-04?”
Raymond’s answer was almost inaudible.
“Because Lucy wasn’t supposed to stay with Lydia.”
Julia stopped breathing.
“Explain.”
Raymond lowered his head.
“M-03 was never meant to become Lydia’s daughter. She was supposed to be returned to Julia after the research period.”
Julia’s knees weakened.
Returned.
Like stolen property.
“Peter found out,” Raymond continued.
“He demanded Lucy back.”
There it was.
The missing piece of Peter’s final investigation.
He had found his biological daughter.
He had confronted Lydia.
Then his car was sabotaged.
Brooks asked the question Julia was afraid to hear.
“Did Lydia order Peter’s death because he wanted Lucy?”
Raymond closed his eyes.
“No.”
Julia stared through the glass.
“Then who did?”
Raymond looked at Detective Brooks.
“Malcolm Voss.”
Brooks leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because Peter had discovered something about Julia.”
Julia’s heart began pounding.
“What?”
Raymond hesitated.
“He discovered she had been enrolled in Kinship before she ever became a patient.”
Julia stared.
That was impossible.
She had never met Voss before her fertility treatment.
May you like
Unless the beginning of the story was older than she knew.
👉 Raymond revealed that Peter was killed after discovering Julia herself had been connected to Project Kinship long before Clara was conceived.
